Forgetting Normal
by 4ever-A-Nightmare
Summary: You go down one long road of heck and lose half your mind watching your family get slaughtered than lose the other half of your mind when you and your friend survive and have to convince these people you meet that you're more useful alive every single day. It's hard to remember when life was normal. WARNING: Violence CHAPTER 2 IS UP!
1. Chapter 1

**I have to take breaks when writing this or my mind goes berserk and all I can see is blood and I turn psycho, so sorry if this takes a while to write. It'll be worth it. A lot of writers skip the death scene and death of their family or friends, or skim over it, to me, that's where you see their mind change, and their ideals change. It also puts readers on the same page as the main character and they know how they feel. I'll stick in the T area until I begin writing the death scenes, then it will become M. Do not worry, this is not a total gorefest, I add humor in to help you not feel depressed and scared. :)**

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"_Where does one go from a world of insanity? Somewhere on the other side of despair?"_

_-T. S. Eliot_

* * *

Summer vacation: a time for laughing, relaxing, sleeping in, and enjoying the absence of hawk-eyed teachers. Especially if it's your last guaranteed vacation; the vacation before college. Three weeks of fun that you might not get to re-spend for a long time as you become an adult. Nothing says fun like the journey; the long_, long_ journey from Berryville, Arkansas to California with someone who can barely read a map and is not up to date enough in the century to install a GPS. Getting lost is half the fun of road trips, it's how you discover the most interesting things. Like this one time we got lost hiking in the rockies and...uh, better save that for another time. Best of all, it's not with _my_ parents, but my friend's dad. Sure, Cole and Sam are coming along, but I don't mind and neither does Amanda, my friend.

Cole and Sam were my brother and sister. Cole: blonde, laid back, cross country star, and part of the local police force at the grand age of twenty-five. His standard government gun was tucked away from everyone's sight, and I knew he carried a spare somewhere. Sam: the hyper, talkative, knowledged, intelligent, creative, child prodigy was twelve and already knew she was attending MIT to go into Neurobiology to study something utterly complex that my mind will never be able to wrap it's biology and chemistry hating self around.

Compared to my superior brother and sister going into well known respectable arts, I felt under achieved. I was going into Clinical Psychology and planned on being a published author. Sure, Sam and I shared my mother's brown hair and Cole and I shared my father's gray eyes, but none of us ever felt like brother and sister. Cole had gone off into criminal justice after he found out our father was a criminal and Sam-well Sam was just Sam, and she often was as confusing as hell.

Sometimes, it was a relief to have Amanda to share the tension with. She knew exactly how I felt about some things, and other things, she knew what to say. Amanda had three brothers, two happily married parents, and a fat lazy cat currently curled happily in the corner of the RV. Since her eldest brother had to work in a different country and her mother had summer school to teach the Graham's (Amanda's family) were down two. That was a relief, because it meant Amanda and I could invite along Daniel our nerdy, yet sweet friend, who-despite being a graduate as well-was a year younger than us due to skipping a grade.

The RV could fit three sleeping comfortably, seven with a little reluctance. It was top quality with a door dividing the beds and from the rest. In addition, it had a kitchenette complete with an oven, microwave, sink, cupboards, and mini fridge. Continuing through, there was a table with padded benches, a futon, and the driver's seat area.

Cole volunteered to bring my mother's van, and planned on sleeping in it with Josh. Josh, was Amanda's twenty-seven year old brother, an old friend of Cole's and currently jobless, or as he put it, between jobs. Amanda's dad thought that Cole's idea was terrific, and suggested Daniel sleep in the van as well, ruining Cole and Josh's _"secret" _plans of watching X movies. Cole agreed, not wanting to be obvious, and Josh was annoyed, but didn't complain. They had already taken up the back of the van with their two sleeping bags, their bags in the row of seats before, save one, and them sitting in the front two seats. That left poor Daniel to have to sleep sitting up, leaning against the car door. I would have to talk about that with Cole; I wasn't having my friend be miserable the whole trip since this was our sleeping locations till we reached California.

Those of us in the RV took the following places as sleeping locations as follows. Sam, Amanda, and I in the three beds in the back, Amanda's dad-Mr. Graham-on the futon, and Tom, Amanda's eleven year old brother sleeping on one of the padded table benches. Mr. Graham was hesitant in letting Tom sleep on the small bench until he found that Tom had made a fort out of the table and benches, with his sleeping bag, blankets, comic books, gaming devices, and action figures covering the area that was supposed to be where we ate at. Mr. Graham decided his son deserved to do that since he was stuck sleeping there, despite the fact that "family and friend" meals were ruined, because with no table to sit at when we ate as a group, we all ate in our desired areas.

…

It was late afternoon of the third day of traveling (we had gotten lost a few times), and none of us had strayed far from our sleeping locations, except Cole and Mr. Graham who had to drive their respective vehicles. Then again, I noticed Sam had crept off to read one of her textbooks on the futon, she claimed the light in the bed area was of too poor of quality for her perfect eyesight. Spoiled brat she was, but smart girls finish first.

My foot had fallen asleep, so I decided to get up and walk around. I walked into the kitchenette for a soda and glanced over at Sam, who had been joined on the futon by Tom who was absorbed with his gameboy. It humored me to see two kids of about the same age with totally different objectives; Tom was focused on beating the level on his game and Sam was focused on learning enough information and knowledge to get her into a college at fifteen. I smiled at them, earning a confused look from Sam who had looked up to acknowledge my presence.

I just smirked at her and headed back to the bed area. Amanda was on her bed, hanging upside down, her feet against the wall. Her headphones were in her ear and her phone in her hands as she texted message after message. Content with my surroundings, I reached under my pillow and pulled out my book and opened it plopping down on the bed, my back coming to rest against the wall. It was peaceful, and I felt my muscles relaxing.

Too soon for my liking, I was interrupted.

"Lydia?" I looked up. "Does your phone have reception?" Amanda asked, staring at me, still upside down with one headphone hanging out of her ear.

I reached into my pocket and slid out my phone; there was no bars. Just to make sure, I went to Amanda's contact and hit call, but a message popped up, "No Available Signal."

"Uh, nope, why, anything the matter with this?" I asked hesitantly, not sure why not being able to text for a while should be a concern.

She gawked at me for a moment and then shook her head, clearing away whatever had bothered her..

"Nothing's the matter, just..." she shook her head again, "it bothers me, like if we needed help or the RV broke down we wouldn't be able to call anyone."

Her paranoia made me roll my eyes, but I knew if my friend got too paranoid she would go into a freak out state. I was like that with other things.

"We're just passing through a dead zone, you can text people later. 'Sides, I think there's a gas station ahead, and your dad will get enough gas to take us a million miles." I reassured her, trying to look calm and collected and not let her insane ideas let my own imagination run wild. The last thing I needed was to get on everyone's nerves when I went into one of my freak outs where I would badger everyone about "what if," situations and then spend days in solitude at a computer typing up my ideas.

Amanda bit her lip, and walked to the back of the bed area where the only window in this part was. She moved the curtain aside and looked out at the scenery. After a few minutes she spoke, her eyes still staring out the window as she did.

"It's a desert area, all tumbleweeds and hills galore-lot's of rocks too. Lydia, what kinds of animals live in the desert?" She asked, staring defiantly out the window.

It took me a few minutes to think about that, I didn't really know.

"Um... rattlesnakes, vultures, maybe jack rabbits or something of that sort, I don't know really." I suggested half-heartedly, not really being the kind of person to pay attention to what roams where, more of who does what and why? Psychology is a lot easier to understand and grasp than Geology or whatever you call the study of land and the animals that live there.

Another couple of minutes passed, and I stared at her still form as her eyes repeatedly swept over the moving scenery. Reluctantly, she pulled away from the window and sank onto her bed, her eyes going to her phone with sadness. She seemed calm, so I picked up my book and continued reading, but I watched her out of the corner of my eye. Amanda had picked up a magazine, flipping through it, and occasionally running a hand through her short, black, boy-styled spiky hair. After a while I could tell she was getting antsy, even though I had taken my eyes off her, I could tell. The bed creaked, and whined, as she kept tossing and turning obviously not comfortable.

She cleared her throat, I didn't look up, but tried to focus on my book. Again she cleared her throat, this time coughing, and again I stubbornly looked down, not wanting to start a conversation. Her following coughs, and clearing of her throat would have got her sent to a hospital right away, had this been school. Sensing a tedious, and unable to answer while reading kind of conversation, I enthusiastically put my book down and turned to her.

Immediately Amanda shot up and began prattling.

"Ya know how I always thought I had this psychic part of me, like I always could sense when bad things were going to happen or really good things like that time I predicted Corey would ask you to the dance, and it turned into a four-month relationship with you and him. The bad things being like that time I told you not to take a side-street that Tuesday and we almost got mugged, and it was lucky we were both in track and nobody caught us jumping fences, well like that. And BTW, you should really make sure your phone is charged before heading to school, and then another time I predicted-"

"I get it Amanda, please get to the point." I interrupted.

"Well...I'm getting this weird vibe, like something, something...what's that word, it starts with an 'o.'"

"Odd, odible, open, omnigenous, outlandish, oppressive, ominous-"

"Ominous, that's the one!"

"Hm, why is a completely empty desert foreboding?" I asked, not concerned. My mother had stressed to me the importance of not freaking out over things, because there was a good chance nothing was there.

"Duh, it's completely empty, isn't that odd or disturbing at all?" Amanda asked me, staring at me incredulously.

"You think the abandoned shops are haunted, this is a desert, what could be out here?" I questioned.

It took her awhile to comprehend what I was saying, and then she had to stop and think about it.

"Desert werewolves!"

"There are no such things as werewolves!"

"Mummies!"

"They may exist, but they sure of a hell ain't moving!"

"Hillbillies?"

"Why-what..." I left it there as I started laughing, offending Amanda. She looked at me outraged, her puppy dog eyes turning ferocious.

"I'm serious, there's something out there!" Amanda whined, tears almost coming out of her eyes.

Tears had welled up in my eyes as well, but for a completely different reason.

"You convinced your dad not to take a plane, because a fear of the plane crashing and you think your ex-boyfriend works as a flight attendant." I argued, trying to sound reasonable.

Amanda made to argue, but was interrupted as we felt the RV pull to a stop. Her dad's shout was soon to follow.

"Hey kids, I'm stopping for gas, if you want to stretch your legs or get some fresh air, now would be the time to do so." He shouted, his door slamming instantaneously after his last word.

We heard an excited squeal from Sam and a groan from Tom as they raced out the door. Amanda took a deep breath rolling her neck, she looked as she did when finals were in full slam. Her eyes were slightly glazed, her breathing erratic, and she looked just as terrified as Horror Movie 20/4 (twenty hours of horror movies, four hours a sleep, for four days). Shivers wracked her body and I watched helplessly, regretting egging her on. I had a tendency not to know when to stop, to stop speaking, to stop acting, to stop all together. It had it's effects, but I wasn't going to let them eat at her.

"You going to be okay, I'm sorry, maybe some fresh air will help with these visions?" I questioned, and she nodded, standing.

She took another deep breath, ceasing her odd breathing and shivers.

"You're forgiven, I know it's hard to understand what's not backed up with evidence for you."

I nodded, keeping my eyes on her as she walked ahead of me. She turned to me when she noticed I wasn't moving, her peppy smile, albeit fake, had returned to her face.

"Well what're you waiting for bugger, let's go get fresh air!" She chirped, opening the door.

I followed her, and was disgusted at the immediate heat waves that hit me. It felt like I had stepped into an oven; even wearing denim capris and a t-shirt, it still felt blazing hot. Amanda wasn't as affected baring a tank top and shorts, lucky her.

Shielding my eyes from the sun's harmful rays, I examined the gas station. Looked a bit like Conoco, but it would have to be a Conoco that had been left out in the desert for twenty-years. According to the sign, this sand-eroded gas station was named Gas Haven. It beat the one that we had seen before, ole "Gas 4 Sael," with horrible spelling mistakes and perverted old men leering at us. I looked over at Amanda; she was entertaining herself by walking around the lot, using her phone as a camera to take pictures of the dusty bottles on the pole, and the deserted desert.

A cold chill ran down my back as I stared at the foreboding emptiness of the desert, I kinda saw what Amanda meant. Emptiness was eerie... Suddenly, Amanda stopped with her pictures, and stared at her phone. She motioned for me to come over. I did, and looked at the photo.

"What's wrong?"

She pointed to an area of the picture where there was this light, or the reflection of light like when light hit a mirror.

"Weird."

Amanda nodded, but did nothing more, staring at the desert, particularly in the direction of the strange light.

The sound of tires alerted me to the arrival of the boys in the van. I went to greet them, and Amanda followed me, tucking her phone back into her pocket. Cole pulled the car to a stop and stepped out, followed by Josh, and Daniel. The three of them were drenched in sweat.

"How was your ride?" I asked, examining their tired faces.

The boys groaned.

"It was horrible, doofus over there," he gestured to Josh, "didn't listen to my warning that we couldn't turn the air-conditioning on full blast or it would fail, and he turned it up, and what do ya know, the air-conditioning broke!" Cole shouted.

"Shut up," Josh growled.

"Well excuse me, it's not my fault you're stupid and a lazy asshole who won't get a job."

"You're just a servant of the government, prancing around with a badge and a gun to stop so-called crime from the people the government robbed."

"I'm the reason some people are still alive." Cole argued, fists clenching.

"Guys!" I interrupted them, Amanda ready to grab her brother's arms if he tried to throw a punch, and I was ready to grab Cole's. "It's just the heat, calm down."

They stood there for a moment, before they both calmed.

"I'm sorry Josh, just a bit irritated, 'cause I'll have to explain to my mom that her van needs repairs."

"I'm sorry too, didn't mean what I said. I'll pitch in money if your mom makes you pay, we can always say it was the car's fault."

"Agreed."

And just like that, the two were laughing and talking together, walking along side each other, examining the desert scenery. Amanda rolled her eyes, and I was on the same page. Daniel had watched the whole ordeal silently, but happily greeted us. We walked around the gas station together chatting about our plans for California, and what we planned on doing. Visiting the sites, meeting new friends, shopping, things of that sort.

"Hey, is there any way I can bribe your dad to stay in the RV, those two are constantly arguing and it's giving me a headache." Daniel begged, turning to Amanda.

She shook her head.

"He thinks if he let's one guy to close to me, he'll return home with a pregnant daughter." Amanda joked, and Daniel and I laughed. She shook her head again, and gave him a straight-forward answer. "Nah, there's no room, my little brother is taking up both benches."

We continued walking until I noticed a sign and held out my hand for them to stop. The sign was barely readable, as something had burned a great deal of it.

"I don't think we should go any farther." I said.

They looked at the sign, Amanda immediately nodded, but Daniel shook his head.

"Why not," he asked.

Amanda studied the letters, and tilted her head. "I think it says something along the lines of No Trespassing, the only words I can see are: no, the letter T, United States, and Department.'"

"Is it like some type of Area 51?" Daniel asked, "The government's secret hideout where they build weapons deadlier than nuclear ones, or train assassins." He pondered his theories, straining to see further into the desert.

"Whatever it is, I guess we'll let it remain a mystery. Right?" I asked, giving Daniel a strict look as he walked a little past the fence, staring longingly at the desert.

"One little peek wouldn't hurt." He mumbled, his eyes focused on the terrain.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Amanda remarked.

"Says a rule-abiding brat." Daniel replied, walking forward.

I shrugged, and was about to follow when I heard Cole calling.

"Lydia, Amanda, that other kid, get back here now, we're leaving soon!" He shouted.

Amanda sighed in relief, and Daniel groaned, giving the open unexplored area one last wistful glance before following me and Amanda back to the older adults. We were adults, technically, but being around people that were family or friends that were older made you feel like a teen again.

We joined them where they stood talking to the gas station attendant who had filled up both vehicles. Sam and Tom sat nearby, watching a gecko or some type of lizard make it's way up a rock. Cole, Josh, and Mr. Graham were discussing the route and our destination.

"Ya one of those folks tryin' ta take the scenic route; ha' a group of photo students come through here, wantin' to get some "nice" desert pictures." He inquired, surveying our group, chewing on a cigar that Cole disdainfully eyed.

"Part of it's because I'm bad with maps, and the other part of it is the scenery, it beats prairies and fields." Mr. Graham said, shrugging.

"Hm... ya'll still ha'e a long drive ahead of ya." The man commented.

Cole snorted, "Do you know a shortcut sir, because it would be better than commenting on the obvious." I smirked, that was the Cole I knew. Josh, was smirking too, but for a reason unknown to me.

The man gave him a dark look, something that if translated into words would send a sailor overboard. Mr. Graham shifted nervously, and interrupted their stare-off.

"No, no, we're fine on the route we are, a little warm-air won't kill anyone." He shot Cole a meaningful look. "Thank-you for your time, and now you have a good day." Mr. Graham said, smiling.

Nodding, the man looked out at the desert.

"The shortcut's quicker, but I can see ya'll have yer minds' made up." He muttered.

Immediately, Cole snapped his attention back to the man.

"I wouldn't mind a shortcut," He looked at us and Sam and Tom, "And I'm sure the younger people on this trip wouldn't mind one either." Cole raised his voice, so that Sam and Tom looked up. "Twelve more hours is a pretty long time."

Both of the younger kids immediately guffawed, and everyone could see Tom was about to start whining. Mr. Graham glared at Cole, but asked the man about the shortcut as well..

"Yes, mm, a shortcut might be better, do you know how far it is, and what road it'll lead onto?"

The man smiled good naturedly, somehow it reminded me of a crocodile smiling at it's meal.

"Ju't go left 'bout a few minutes from here, and you'll see a dirt road, it'll be a sure way to get back to the highway which still has plenty of scenery for you folks."

Cole breathed in a sigh of relief, and Mr. Graham thanked the man. With gas paid for, we headed back to our vehicles, and I wished a glum Daniel goodbye. He stared at the van with hatred, but entered it anyway, followed by Josh and Cole. I let Sam and Tom race into the RV in front of me, before following them, Amanda right behind me. She closed the door and headed back to the bed area, mumbling something about checking her phone coverage.

I stayed up front, sitting on the folded up futon, eyeing Tom who was in his fort that was the table, his gameboy beeping and chirping from his hands. Sam, however, was questioning Mr. Graham about the shortcut.

"It's a bad idea to take it; we don't know anything about it. " Sam protested, uneasily looking at the road. "It could just be a dead end, because that man didn't look very trust worthy. Not to mention, it's not on the map." She stated, pointing at a map she had found in the dashboard.

Amanda's dad shook his head, and patted her on the shoulder.

"We're going to take the shortcut, and we'll get there faster. Isn't that what you kids want?" Amanda's dad questioned.

Sam looked at her feet. "I guess so, but..." She made to argue, but left off, not sure what else she could argue about. Amanda watched from the side, apparently she still didn't have any signal on her phone still. She looked tense.

"We're taking the shortcut since that is what I told the boys, and that way we can get there faster. Surely you are all tired of sleeping in the RV?"

Tom nodded, and I reluctantly nodded my head too, getting a sideways look from Amanda. With the route assured, Mr. Graham started the engine. Soon the RV roared to life and the van started up behind us following us dutifully. I felt Amanda plop down on the futon beside me, and watched as Sam sat next to Tom, as they started to play Go Fish. Every once in awhile, hitting a few buttons on his gameboy while he was waiting for Sam to decide what to do.

I cast quick glance at Amanda to find her nervously clutching her cat.

"Hey, Mandy, try to relax, okay?" I said, rubbing her shoulder reassuringly. It didn't help though, and she batted my hand away. Sighing, I turned to her completely. "Amanda, there is no reason to fret; I know you like the main roads more, but your dad thought this would be quicker, which means less time till we can shop."

She stubbornly looked down at her cat, rubbing between its ears. I gave up, and leaned back against the seat, closing my eyes. I must have fallen asleep, but I was reawakened by a rough bump.

A startled Amanda jumped up, only to be thrown to the floor as the camper veered to the left, and lurched as it came to an abrupt stop as Mr. Graham slammed on the brakes. I helped Amanda up, who had gotten a bit bruised up after her hard fall and checked on Sam and Tom, who were stunned, but okay. Tom stared at the mess of cards that was his Go Fish game, and then resumed playing his gameboy.

Sam stood, and walked to the window, moving aside the blinds and curtains. She peeked out, but leaned her head back in unsatisfied.

"Did we hit something?" Sam asked, staring at us.

Shrugging, Amanda and I headed to the door, Sam and Tom following us. I opened the door, and saw Mr. Graham kneeling beside the tires, examining them with uttermost interest. Outside, as I swept my eyes over the scenery, sand blew across the road and tumbleweeds darted across the hills. Taking a look around, that was the only thing I saw: tumbleweeds, sand, hills, and a few rocks.

I turned back to Amanda and her dad, where they were examining the tires. They stood, Mr. Graham shaking his head.

"Tires got popped by something, glass, rocks, an armadillo, an opened mouth snake... maybe? Whatever it is, it sure as hell is gone now." Mr. Graham said, letting out an angry sigh.

Amanda didn't look annoyed or angry like her dad did, but more fearful, her eyes darting across the landscape with worry. I knew that reassuring her was useless after trying to convince her the last few times, especially now we were in the situation she predicted, so I turned my attention to the hills, Sam and Tom momentarily obstructing my view as they darted across, playing tag.

Behind us, the van pulled to a halt, the guys darted out.

"What happened?" Josh asked.

Mr. Graham gestured to the tire. "Popped tire, unknown cause, probably something like glass on the road." He said.

Cole appeared beside Josh, and they began talking to Mr. Graham, debating what to do. Amanda, ducked back inside the RV, trying to calm herself. Daniel approached me, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked to where Amanda had disappeared off into the RV.

"She's still freaked out, isn't she?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah," I muttered.

He looked at the RV again.

"Is she doing any better than when you last confronted her?"

"No, she's still freaked, she thinks there's something out there."

Daniel rolled his eyes, and we started an animated discussion on our future jobs and what colleges we planned on going to. We were just discussing that if the Ivy League schools were worth it, even if you got a scholarship for it when a frightening crack pierced that air, and we both wheeled around, looking at the open desert area, wondering what the hell made that sound.

Mr. Graham, Josh, and Cole wheeled around as well, but unlike us, Josh and Cole seemed to know exactly what the noise was.

"That was a the sound of a gun." Cole muttered.

I felt a cold shiver wrack my body, despite the desert sun. Daniel put a hand on my shoulder, nervously eying the hills. Cole walked around us, and back to the van and began to curse. Josh followed him, and his eyes widened, Daniel and I followed suit, and my eyes fell on the fresh bullet hole in the deflating tire.

Cole opened the dashboard and pulled out what I think was his spare gun, and he turned back to us. We all stood there, asking each other silently, what do we do?

"Back into the RV, everyone." Mr. Graham said, rubbing his temples.

None of us moved, our minds still completely clouded.

"Back into the RV!" He shouted, and we darted back into the RV. Mr. Graham followed us, closing the door behind us. Amanda looked at us from the futon, stroking her fluffy cat. Josh leaned against the counters, rubbing his eyes. Cole and Mr. Graham stared at the door determinately.

Amanda met my eyes, and I noticed the confused look on her face.

"Where's Tom?"

That question froze us, and we exchanged glances. I quickly scanned for Sam, and didn't find her. Cole and I met each other's eyes in question and we both realized the same thing.

"Sam, SAM!" My chest tightened to the point of pain. "We have to go back out there my little sister is out there, and so is Tom."

Mr. Graham froze, surveying us.

"Call 911."

"No signal." Amanda answered.

Her dad cursed, and then I watched as he mentally shifted gears in his head.

"Amanda, grab the knives, and the metal baseball bat." He commanded.

She jumped off the couch and grabbed the items she was directed to grab. I chewed on the inside of my cheek nervously, wanting to rush out there and find my sister, but that would be the most suicidal plan of action considering whoever is out there has a gun and is a good shooter. Something tells me they're responsible for the tires being popped too, but something tells me that's not all they have planned. Come to think of it, something warned Amanda about this and we didn't listen to her. Guess you do have to listen to something, aka, your conscience and subconscious.

After a quick trip to the RV's kitchenette and closet, Amanda returned with the metal baseball bat and steak knives, fully prepared to give them to who needed them. Cole was good, and he handed his spare gun to Daniel for a "just in case" situation and pulled out his main gun. Josh accepted the steak knives, tucking two of the three in his belt loop. I had seen him throw knives, and if he still could hit the target on the wall then he would be fine, except that his target would be moving, and would be fighting back, so maybe he'll be a little less fine. Mr. Graham took the metal baseball bat and I laughed on the inside. He's a full grown adult who had to take rest stops every ten minutes when we used to go to theme parks, his odds aren't in his favor. That... and I don't think he can really swing that bat.

"Josh and Cole, I want you two to help me. We're going to find Tom and Sam, and whoever shot a bullet at us. If they raise a gun at us, Cole, shoot them in the leg." Mr. Graham paused, looking at Cole with a critical eye. "You do know how to shoot a gun and hit something, right?"

"That's what my training was for, sir."

"Good, I hope we won't need to attack anyone; violence is a sin." Mr. Graham said.

I rolled my eyes. We were all a bunch of hypocrites; none of us had been to church for months.

They went to the door, and Cole raised his gun as they opened it for safety I guess if someone decided to fire right away. Mr. Graham went first, followed by Josh, and finally Cole, but before he went he turned to us.

"Don't follow, stay inside or God help me I will make sure you can't go to the beach." Cole growled.

"Understood."

"Good."

I watched him go out the door, following the others, and felt a prick of fear, but also the feeling of excitement. This was like one of those movies, where the heroes go out and save the two children and stop the bad guy. Daniel was thinking the same thing by his look. We decided to crack the door open to eavesdrop. The bad thing is, I couldn't make out any of the words, so I stepped out, something angrily hissing behind me as I did.

Daniel grabbed my arm, staring at me incredulously.

"What're you doing; we were told to stay inside." He hissed in a harsh whisper. I shrugged him off and crept silently along the side of the RV, making sure to take the opposite route the men had took. Daniel followed, mumbling about stubborn absent-minded women.

Turning to him, annoyed with his mutterings, I gave him a pointed look.

"You know, you could pull out that gun he gave you and at least look slightly scary. It might help frighten off whatever it out there."

He rolled his eyes, and pulled the gun out of his pants pocket, where he had tucked it, following me.

As I kept walking, I glanced back every few minutes to make sure I wasn't walking too far away from the RV. We kept walking for a while, and I starting to wonder if we should just turn around, because we didn't see any sign of Sam or Tom, and we couldn't start shouting for them, because then Cole would realize we completely disobeyed him.

Lost in my thoughts, I kept walking forward, until I felt a sharp tug on my shoulder. I wheeled around to see Daniel staring past me, his hand still on my shoulder. His eyes were staring in fear at the ground. Turning back around, I saw what he had been staring at.

It was a puddle of blood, and the puddle of blood had a trail leading away from it, and drag marks. Like the someone who had been bleeding had been dragged away by something else. My heart pounded, and slowly my eyes followed the trail, but stopped as it veered off road and into the hills. Daniel pulled me back, farther away from the blood and began to shout for Mr. Graham.

The parent appeared a good five minutes later with Cole and Josh in tow. Cole gave me the evil eye, but it stopped when his eyes fell on the puddle of blood. Mr. Graham walked past us and examined the blood puddle and then the trail leading away. He eyed the hills warily.

"Cole, you stay and stand guard. I trust you will protect everyone well. Daniel, give me the spare." Mr. Graham said.

As Cole nodded, Daniel reluctantly gave the spare gun to Mr. Graham.

"Josh and I will follow the trail. It's the only thing we have and we'll either find the kids or the son-of-a-b-" He coughed. "Excuse me, I mean, people that are causing all this trouble."

We nodded, and I watched with a feeling of sadness as Josh and Mr. Graham walked off road, following the trail. I turned back to the RV and began walking back, Daniel at my side and Cole behind me.

"What were you thinking, I specifically told you not to go outside! God, can you be any more stupid? How is your idiocy going to help us find Sam?" He chastised.

"I want to find her as much as you do."

"Then do what you're told!"

I wanted to argue, but didn't and instead took a sharp breath in, trying to ignore that uneasy feeling in my stomach. We reached the RV, and Cole opened the door, ushering us inside. After taking one step in, I froze and I felt Daniel still beside me. Cole walked in and stopped, but unlike us, regained movement and walked past me, pulling his gun out. We're gone about twenty minutes or so, but it seems our absence did some damage.

The fluffy cat Amanda had stroked and cuddled so much, now lay mutilated on the couch, and I felt bile rise in my throat at it's lack of a head. I covered my mouth, my stomach twisting around in knots, but it didn't stop there; the damage kept going. Everything was trashed or blood smeared: the table broken, Tom's fort in pieces, cupboards damaged, the wall behind the cat smeared with blood. Fear rose within me as my eyes swept the area.

"Amanda." I whispered, and I felt Daniel squeeze my hand. I glanced at him, and saw similar emotions and thoughts were going through his head as he looked around.

Cole began to creep forward, heading towards the bed area, his gun expertly trained on the door. Daniel followed, grabbing a broken table leg and holding it like a bat. Hesitantly, I followed. My feet reluctant to walk farther into the RV, and see the couch where the cat lay. Accidentally, my eyes fell on it, and I gagged. It was hard to believe that was the cute fluffy cat I saw earlier.

My brother paused at the closed door that separated the beds from the rest of the RV. With his gun locked on what would be the center of the room when he opened the door, he kicked the door open, breaking the already weak latch on it.

His aim fell on the intruder and my chest tightened horribly at the sight and it took all the willpower I had not to scream. Standing over an unconscious Amanda-who had blood dripping from her face from a cut on her cheek-was something not normal. It was a very large being with blondish hair and a misshapen head and face. Blood lingered on his clothes and a partly chewed arm was still in his grasp. The hand of the arm had light green nail polish, my sister Sam's signature color. Anger and sadness welled up in the form of tears, and I felt them start to run down my face as I stared at the monster.

Cole had his gun pointed at the monster's head; fear and determination rested in his eyes. Daniel stiffened in front of me, his eyes locked on the monster, the table leg raised.

"Step away from her," Cole commanded, strong and steady.

The intruder looked at him and smiled a seemingly innocent child-like smile that if this were any other situation, would be easy to like. Yet, his child-like smile only made him all the more scary as he towered over us from afar. He -Can I call it a he?- didn't move away from Amanda, but put the arm aside in favor of a pickaxe.

"I'll give you till the count of three to step away or I'll shoot you in the head."

I stepped back not wanting to see if Cole shot or how this played out. As I did, I felt a hand with a rough leather glove cover my mouth, and another wrap around my waist, locking my arms to my side.

"One."

No sound came from from my lips no matter how hard I tried.

"Two."

Whatever was holding me captive shifted it's hand from my waist and to a spiked item, I could see out of the corner of my eye.

"Three."

It swung the spike strip-which I could see clearly now-and struck Daniel and Cole, knocking both to the ground. Cole must have squeezed the trigger, but the bullet only went into the bed frame with his his sudden imbalance. I was thrown to the ground, and as whoever-or whatever-that was behind me whipped the spike strip back, it dug into my back, ripping away at fabric and skin alike.

Rolling onto my side, I saw Daniel and Cole struggling to get up. I tried to look at the thing that was behind me, but all I could see were dusty boots and a spiked strip. I guess I got my answer for what popped the tires. Daniel was standing and Cole had collapsed completely, not moving. Again, I turned my attention to the man or person that was behind me to find I had a better view. Moving upwards, he had dusty clothes that had seen some harsh days, leather gloves that currently held the bloody menace that he looked on the verge of swinging, and I got a side view of his face. From what I could see, he had a disfigured lip, a cleft lip-something I knew of, because a classmate had it-but it was extremely severe for that type of disfiguration. His hair was dusty and looked a bit gray, but blonde. Come to think of it, I had seen that hair color before, but would it be bad if I said I saw it on a wolf and a girl.

My attention back on Daniel, I saw he had managed to stand, but looking at the mutant across from him, he didn't stand a chance. The man with spikes, swung them in an arc, and they impaled themselves in Daniel's side. Daniel, for the time being, ignored them, and hit his attacker in the shoulder with the table leg. This resulted in the mutant getting angrier and he yanked the spikes out with a quick tug, and swung it at Daniel again, this time getting him in the leg.

Daniel stood there staring defiantly at the mutant, table leg in hand, but he was on the verge of going down, with blood flowing freely from his side, and his leg shaking. Again, the mutant wrenched the spikes out, and Daniel collapsed to his knees the moment he did.

I watched in horror, unable to move as the mutant pulled out a cleaver that had been tucked in his belt loop, and struck Daniel in the head with it. Tears flowed like rivers down my face as Daniel fell forward, dead and I silently prayed that Cole and I wouldn't be next, that they would just leave.

My wish was granted when the mutant adjusted his spikes back across his chest, letting part of it drag like a tail, like a tail on some wicked creature. He pulled his cleaver from Daniel's head, and walked to the bed area, stepping on my hand and most of Cole's body in the process.

"Com'on Pluto, Papa Jupe's hungry; wants fresh meat brought back."

Pluto, the odd intruder that was standing over Amanda, grumbled something, I couldn't make out.

"Ya can wait, we'll take this one back." The unnamed mutant said, gesturing to Daniel.

"Whut 'bout other an' girlies?" Pluto said.

"I'll tal' ta Papa Jupe 'bout 'em."

The mutant with the spikes walked past, grabbing Daniel's legs and dragging him to the open door. Pluto paused, looking around.

"Ya comin' Pluto?" The other mutant shouted.

Reluctantly, Pluto drew away from Amanda, and grabbed his pickaxe and Cole's dropped gun from the ground.

"Yah, Lizard." Pluto grumbled, stamping over the unconscious body of Cole and my ribs in the process. I think "Pluto" fractured a few of my ribs.

The door slammed shut, and an empty feeling settled in the RV. Cole waited a second before sitting up. He rubbed his thighs and knee where they had been stepped on, and examined his back the best he could. I watched him do this, not feeling particularly motivated enough to move.

"Lydia, you all right?" Cole whispered, his voice sounding a bit rusty.

Groaning, I tried to sit up and failed, my back and rib cage on fire with the amount of pain.

"I'm alive," I stated, "That's better than a few of us."

Cole stood, and walked over to me. His steps were unsteady, but he managed. He bent down and helped pull me into a sitting position, which I was grateful for. I leaned my head against the wall.

"I'm glad you're alive." He gave me a weak smile. "Stay here, I'm going to check on Amanda." The "stay here," wasn't necessary, but the concern was touching.

I felt like shit and when I looked down at myself I had to look back up. There was blood everywhere, and a good part of it wasn't my blood. Did I mention I have a fear of blood, that I can't look at it without feeling dizzy? Squeamish, that's what they called it. No one took my fear serious till we watched a cartoon video about aids and all the talk of it getting into your blood, blood, blood, and more blood made me pass out after it was over. During my junior high years it wasn't so bad, I got used to it, but during high school there was an accident during a basketball game in my junior year and I passed out with the bass drum on my shoulders, falling forward and frightening a few freshmen trombones.

When I saw that blood puddle, it was okay; I didn't know who it came from or how it got that way, so my brain dismissed it. But seeing the cat, Daniel, and those mutant people...it hits me in the gut harder than any mutant could. I closed my eyes, but opened them when images of the spike strip hitting Daniel and Cole, that mutant Lizard, and the image of the cleaver in Daniel's head flashed onto my closed eyelids. Looking down, I started to hyperventilate. Blood was everywhere I looked when I surveyed the RV. Daniel's blood stained the ground around me, cat blood was still on the walls, my blood was on my clothes and still flowing out of me.

If I could, I would move out of this room and go into the room where there was no blood or at least less, but my body wouldn't allow it. I hoped Amanda was alright; God only knows what happened to her in the time we were gone. With another blink of my heavy eyes, the images flashed through my brain again.

Forget being a clinical psychologist; I'm going to be seeing one.

Then again, there was that sad little fact that there was no way out less we had a car to drive in. Walking out there would make us easy targets, especially injured.

Growling, I tried to push the negative thoughts out of my brain and focus on the positive. Though part of my brain asked 'what positives?'

Amanda, Cole, and I were alive. I was alive. Josh and Mr. Graham...are...alive, out searching for Sam and Tom who are...d...no...they could...can...still be alive. We aren't dead yet, and still have weapons.

Which Josh and Mr. Graham have and they're not here.

We still have hope for a way out if we stick together and stop splitting up, because that's when bad things happen.

At least, so far that's what has happened, and every horror movie in existence would say so too.

Sighing, I thought about what we had stumbled upon, or rather fallen prey to due to a purposely given direction to go this way. Cannibals, deformed cannibals and we were definitely in their territory. We're paying for trusting a stranger like teachers always told us not to. Amanda was right all along, there is something evil out here, and we're its new victims.

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**Updates will take a while, because if you haven't noticed this chapter was over 8,000 words, my longest chapter ever. This chapter can still be called 'T', right? I don't want to switch it to 'M' right away and not get potential readers. Review, don't review, but please do review, because to type one to twelve words is really that difficult. Less you're on a mobile device or something without a keyboard: in that case, you don't have to review less you want thirteen minutes of your life spent trying to type with your one finger.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

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**Oh, and for music lovers who like finding music that match characters Bad Blood from Creature Feature works alright with Lizard and Horrible Things.**

**I am trying to keep this story realistic, so I do research before I write, but I can't get all information, so if someone knows about the mutant's past (the comic) or has seen the documentary for the film, I would appreciate your help.**

**Thank You for the reviews, and I appreciate the thought put into them! One question, to who said where are the mutants. Um, I'm pretty sure Lizard and Pluto were in the last chapter, but if you're talking about the others…**

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Cole returned with a conscious, but quite shaken Amanda, the small first-aid kit in one hand, Amanda's hand in his other. She was shivering, and as soon as she saw the blood, her breathing became erratic. Amanda looked like she wanted to turn and flee, but Cole squeezed her hand reassuringly and she stayed put.

"Sorry it took a while; that big ogre hit her pretty hard." Cole apologized, and I nodded meekly.

Amanda stared past me, her eyes sweeping across the damage and blood, her innocent eyes hardened.

"We're going to pick you up and move you to the bed area, but is there any chance you can move your legs and we can just help you stay up." I stared at him in question. "Sorry, can you walk?" Cole rubbed the back of his neck, pulling his hand away when he realized he was just smearing blood on the back of his neck.

"I can try."

They grabbed me under the armpits and helped pull me up. Standing without their help was impossible, but I managed to drag my feet to the bed area with their help, even though they still half carried me. I felt miserable having to depend on someone to walk a few yards, but I tried to tell myself it was only temporary. Cole and Amanda helped me get settled sitting on a bed; Amanda sitting down beside me once she was sure I was on the bed.

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, and noticed the gash in her cheek was worse than my first opinion of it. If we had access to medical help, stitches would be helpful, but sadly, we had none. Amanda had taken a few nursing classes in high school, but not enough to fully stitch her face up. Even if she knew how, the mental and emotional weight on her would make it nearly impossible for her to remember how to do that medical procedure. Scanning her fully with my eyes, the gash in her cheek wasn't her only injury, she appeared to have had her slashed outer thigh badly, very badly.

She caught my gaze, and shook her head, gesturing to the wound on my back. I looked to Cole, to see him sitting on what used to be Sam's bed, pulling things out of the first aid kit. His injuries were the least severe only getting a harsh scratch from the spike strip on his calf, but it looked to be already slowing down on the bleeding. Blood, lots and lots of blood on all of us.

I switched my gaze to something else, focusing on my book which lay on the ground, it's cover torn off. Cole walked to me, obscuring my view of my torn up book. He was swearing, and I felt a small prick on my back, but I ignored it, focusing on the book.

"Lydia?" I switched my focus to Cole. "Is it okay if I use duct tape to keep this bandage on, I have no idea how to bandage someone."

"Sure." I muttered, finding a new object to focus on.

This time it was Amanda's feet, covered in dirty white socks. She had taken off her shoes after walking through the blood. I knew how she felt; I would give up almost anything for a shower or bath.

Cole reappeared in front of me, and he tilted my head up and looked me straight in the eyes. Something in his look told me that I was not okay by any standards.

"Don't try to sleep, yet Lydia. Try to keep your eyes open for a little longer and..." He looked around and handed me my beaten up book. "And.. read a bit of your book."

Weakly, I nodded, but when I looked down at my book, it might as well have been in another language for all I could comprehend. I let it fall from my fingers, and drifted my eyes back up to where Cole sat next to Amanda, patching up her leg. She winced every time he tugged, and when it came to her cheek he couldn't even get his hands near it before she started whining. None of his methods to bandage her cheek seemed to be working, so he settled for cutting off a part of the bandage and taping it to her face, causing her to glare at him harshly.

Cole cast another look at me, and started cursing and muttering something, but it fell deaf upon my ears. He disappeared from the room and returned with food he had salvaged from the mini-fridge: a pudding cup, a pre-made sandwich, and a water bottle. Handing it to me, he stared at me hard, until I unwrapped the pre-made sandwich and took a bite. Soon, I had ate the whole thing, and squeezed as much of the pudding out of the pudding cup as possible, and gulped the water down.

He looked satisfied, and I felt quite a lot better. My mind was clearer, I could think, and not to my great joy, I could feel all the pain that I hadn't been able to feel. Amanda smiled at me, relief in her eyes, and she gave me a small light hug, both of us careful of each other's and our own injuries. Cole had sat down again, and I decided to bring forth the question that had crossed my mind earlier. Hopefully, it wasn't too pressing on Amanda, but we had to know what we were facing.

"Amanda?" She cast a wary eye on me. "If it's not too hard for you, can you tell us what happened while we were gone?"

She bit her lip, but nodded.

"Yeah, I can tell you; it won't be too hard."

Cole and I watched her hesitantly, prepared for the worst.

"After you guys left, I got a little worried. It was eerie being all alone. Nothing to defend myself with and the emptiness felt choking. So, I went back in here..." She pauses, gesturing to the surrounding bed area. "To get food for Fluffy, the cat, and I heard the door open. I just thought it was you guys, like Daniel had dragged you back in. Now that I think of that, I shouldn't of dismissed it, but I did. When I heard more noise, too loud of walking, I knew it wasn't you guys."

Amanda shook her head and I could see she was crying.

"I wasn't sure what to do, so I walked forward to the area of the kitchenette and froze when I saw that tall disfigured, disgusting thing lumbering... a mutant. It was harshly uncoordinated mentally and physically. The mutant thing picked up Fluffy and he hissed and bit the thing's hand. Well the thing reacted violently and gutted and behead Fluffy with his pickaxe." Amanda stopped taking a deep breath shaking her head, trying to clear the image.

I rubbed my hand across her back as she began sobbing uncontrollably.

"G-g-h-God, I tried stay quiet, but I guess I whimpered or something, because suddenly it turned towards me. It smiled the same way it had when it saw the cat. Much like a little kid, but it was absolutely wretched and I was so scared. I didn't dare dive back to the bedrooms, because I didn't want to be trapped, so I dived to the side and ended up getting stuck next the closet. Without looking I grabbed the first heavy thing nearby that turned out to be a broom."

Sighing, she stopped, rubbing her temples. It was getting harder for her to continue, to relive the nightmare that one witnessed. How would I ever be able to relive my own nightmare enough to tell the others when they returned, if they returned. I gave her a dry smile, hoping it would help her continue telling the story. She was grateful for the support and continued.

"It-it was stupid of me. I shouldn't have swung the broom, but I did. I didn't know...I didn't know...there was a second."

"A second?"

"Another one, with a weird mouth, but it didn't do anything, but grin in twisted way, but I changed my aim to it, and the the first one went psycho."

The part about the weird mouth told me exactly which one she had been talking about, and if I had been in her situation, I would have swung at it rather than the big one.

"The first one, the like really giant one, swung a piece of wood with nails sticking out of it at my leg, and it hurt badly. I collapsed and I must have hit my head on the way down, because I don't remember anything else. I don't even know how I got back in the bed area since I was still in the kitchenette when I went down."

Cole stared ahead, and took a deep breath.

"They must have a little bit of empathy...or at least one of them does."

I stared at him incredulously.

"Empathy, is that what they call killing children and mutilating people?"

"They are human, aren't they?" Cole said, and suddenly we were unsure. Were these mutants human or something from a horror movie?

Decidedly, Cole nodded. "They're human, we have to think realistically. They're human and they have weakness, if it becomes between them and us, then they can die. They are not invincible, and they can get injured. Everyone in this situation is human, and everyone can bleed and bruise. From when I was in training, one of my teachers used to stress that to us. If we ever meet a horrible enemy, remind ourselves that they and we are humans, one in the same."

Nodding, I acted as if I agreed to Cole's "reasonable" idea. Really, I was agreeing with myself and the idea circling my brain.

These were invincible monsters, and we were screwed.

They were coming for us, and we had no idea what they had in mind. These weren't regular people and if they were human...then where they come from and where we come from must be really different. Those people at Cole's school need to come out here, see these enemies and tell us to look at them as human.

Well now you're just being judgy.

Ignoring, my ever so, there's a reason behind everything conscience, I looked over at my friend. Amanda looked on the same page as me and Cole took both of our hands and squeezed them.

"We're going to be fine." He said solemnly.

"You don't have your gun." I whispered.

His expression turned to one that clearly said, "Did you really have to point that out?" What I said must have freaked Amanda out, because she jumped up, staggering slightly at putting weight on her injured leg, and glared at Cole.

"What happens when they come back; when will they come back!" Amanda shrieked.

Shrugging, I rolled my shoulders, and pulled my messy brown hair back into a ponytail.

"I guess we just have to hope that the others return before they do."

Despite our negative views, that little ray of hope calmed me and Amanda. It was something to cling to; the idea that there was help out there, our friends and family, two of our members could come back.

All of us had split off to separate activities, all distracted, yet focused on our surroundings. Cole had grabbed a couple of towels and trash bags and went to mop up the blood as if it was a regular mess, but perhaps to him it was. Amanda had changed out of her tank top and jean shorts to a knee length skirt and shirt. Not the best clothes I would choose in this situation, but she looked more relaxed in those clothes, so I didn't advise against it. I too changed shirts, and then realized with a hiss of pain it was an itchy hell to have any fabric touching my wound and had to roll the shirt up in the back. That was why Amanda was wearing a skirt, to take the feeling of fabric rubbing against the gash on her leg away. In this war for survival: Amanda: 1, Me: 0.

She had begun doodling, but one look at her drawings and I safely decided now was not the time to bug her or try and talk to her. In a sense, her drawings were as disturbing as what had just happened, and partly, because she was a very good artist and drew them too good. The book I had read earlier still held no interest, so I just flipped onto my stomach and stared at the bedspread, not knowing what else to do. My muscles were tense, and I felt as if I was vulnerable. Against my aching back's will, I sat back up, feeling slightly less vulnerable.

A knock made me jump up. Amanda looked up, her eyes going to the doorway. I slowly got up, and walked to the doorway. Cole had paused in his scrubbing of the blood, which was going frighteningly well. Sometimes it was easy to forget he might have done this before, or at least has been around all this blood, except in moments right now. He stood, and went to the door.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, staring at him incredulously.

He glanced at me and rolled his eyes.

"Those mutant things that attacked us would most likely barge in before they knocked. It's probably become a habit. By the way they act, I think we're not their first victims, but I'm going to damn make sure we're their last." Cole assured me.

I shook my head, disagreeing with the idea that there was someone friendly on the other side of the door.

"Well, what if they changed their game?"

From outside, we heard an annoyed grumble.

"What's all the fuss, can you let us in or are you going to make us stand out here all night?" Josh yelled.

"There's your answer, no mutants, just Josh and his dad." Cole jibed, gesturing to the door.

He opened the door, and Josh stomped past him. Mr. Graham walked in behind him and closed the door. The older man looked around and eyed Cole's progress in cleaning up the blood, where rags and towels soaked with the drying crimson liquid were. Turning to Cole, Mr. Graham crossed his arms. Looking as much as the parent as he was.

"You mind telling me what happened here?"

Cole gestured to the bed area. "We might want everyone here for this meeting; we can have it back in the bed area."

Mr. Graham nodded, and was about to comment on something, but Josh interrupted him.

"Holy fuck, what happened here?" Josh growled.

"We had unwelcomed visitors who have different opinions about things then we do." I sarcastically retorted, stretching slightly in pain.

Josh glanced at me, and his eyes widened.

"Fuck, you look like shit." He muttered.

Mr. Graham glanced at me, but his look returned to Cole, this time a little harsher.

"Where's Daniel?" He asked.

"Like I said, we might want to have this in the bed area, that way Amanda can join in, and Lydia can sit down and rest." Cole completely ignored Mr. Graham's harsh look and glared at me, like I was doing something bad. My injury wasn't in my legs, it was in my back; I wasn't doing anything harmful to my health.

Before Mr. Graham could ask anymore questions, Cole walked towards the bed area, grabbing my arm and dragging me with him (Now that hurt my back). Josh followed, and Mr. Graham did as well.

Back in the bed area, Amanda glanced up anxiously, but was relieved at the sight of us, and I smiled faintly at her, and sat beside her. Cole sat down on one of the beds, and Josh and Mr. Graham took the other one. We were facing each other and I was faintly reminded of all those school teamwork activities where we had to talk about something. We all pretty much had the same attitude as then...minus the death and bloodshed.

We all sat and exchanged glances with each other, not knowing where to start. Mr. Graham cleared his throat, and meaningfully stared at Cole, who glanced at me, as if saying "you start", but I looked to Amanda, and she glared at me, and turned her look pleadingly to her brother.

"So…" Josh started, but no one else finished it. Rolling his eyes, he started talking. "I guess that means that I'll tell you what we," he gestured to himself and his dad, "found on our little trip."

Taking a deep breath, he let a shudder pass through him.

"If you haven't already guessed, Tom is dead and I'm sure Sam is too. We followed the trail of blood, and found him gutted...like a fish." Josh paused closing his eyes. "I reached the top of the hill first, and saw his body first. It scared me, so I scurried back down and continued back up with dad and by that time, the body had already been dragged further away and we made to follow it, but when it veered out of the hills and into this mine area. We didn't follow. Especially when we saw the two others follow dragging a body." Staring meaningfully at Cole, Josh cleared his throat. "You mind telling us who's body it is, since it was too large to be your studyholic sister."

"Two cannibals, I assume that is their food choice by their actions, attacked the RV when we were outside investigating. When Daniel, Lydia, and I returned to the RV, one was still their towering over your sister. We made to attack, and were attacked. They killed Daniel and dragged him off." Cole stated blandly.

Mr. Graham bit his lip and glanced down. The man was in his mid-fifties and this seemed to surpass all of his life's knowledge and he didn't know how to handle the information.

"My son, and two other children have died on this trip…" He let the statement hang there for a moment, before taking a deep breath and staring Cole straight in the eyes. "What are we up against?"

"Killers, cold-blooded mutated freaks that aren't clueless in their art. This was set up by them, and it sounds like they've used this drill a lot of times. The drill in which they have people go down a supposed shortcut and slaughter them. By their ease and sadistic edge, I'd say we're looking at people that have seen everything and know the ins and outs." Cole's eyes drifted off as he said this, as he looked over the facts he had trained with.

"Are we doomed?" I asked.

"No, the killers never win all the time. They must have a flaw, nothing is perfect. They seem to be good attackers, but how about defenders…" Cole glanced around, and probably realized he wasn't working with professionals, but a tired and scared bunch of people. "No...no, we just need to get out of here, get some service on our phones, and make sure we live to report these monsters."

Mr. Graham sighed, but it was clear he agreed, and Josh nodded. Amanda looked ready to go with whatever her family said, but I wasn't so sure. It sounded like these guys were killers that attacked, and if we try to leave, staggering along with our injuries. It would be like blood in the ocean, the sharks would smell it and go into a frenzy.

"That sounds...fun, do we know what weapons they have? Isn't it basic police stuff to know what weapons your enemy has?" Josh asked.

Cole shrugged. "I have no idea what they have."

I hadn't spoke up yet, but since I knew the answer to this particular question, I figured it was high-time I did. Maybe it would give me the same satisfaction it had gave me in school.

"One of them has a spike strip that he uses like a whip, they have axes of some sort, and more… and now they have Cole's gun." I whispered.

Josh glanced at me sympathetically, and then back at the rest of the group.

"So, like mining tools, police weapons, and whatever they feel like beating the shit out of us with. They sound like real nice people." Josh said through clenched teeth.

"Shut it, we aren't helpless." Cole growled.

"Sure we aren't."

"Both of you stop, now is not the time." Mr. Graham demanded. Cole and Josh exchanged uneasy looks, and Mr. Graham pulled out a small radio. "We found this on our way back, it may not seem like much, but since there is no service out here, I think this may be how they communicate."

"They have names, Lizard being the one that popped the tires, and Pluto being the tall, offset one that is very giant strong like-ish." Amanda piped up.

She must have heard me mention their names earlier, but it was clear their names were only important to the both of us, because the comment went ignored by everyone else.

"What we need to do, is get out of here." Cole stated.

Just as another comment was about to be thrown out the small radio crackled to life.

_"Goggle? Goggle, pick up will ya." A buzz, and the voice continued, this time addressing someone else. "Papa Jupe, Goggle ain't ans'rin."_

_Another voice joined in._

_"Go find 'im 'en. What're ya, stupid. Why're at, kill the leftovers."_

_A crackling noise._

_"Gottit Papa Jupe."_

I froze, staring at the radio and I wasn't the only one. If they were cannibals, then alive leftovers had to be us.

"Everyone stay calm, Cole and Josh arm yourselves and stay with the girls. I'll guard out in the main part." Mr. Graham commanded.

Cole turned to Amanda and I, and crouched beside us.

"Don't worry there are five of us, and by the sound of it only one is coming."

"Easy-peasy," Josh said with vigor, "I'm gonna make that son of a bitch pay!"

A thud came from above, and the four of us still in the bedroom area froze.

"You don't think they could be, on top of the RV." I whispered.

"That's not possible." Cole and Amanda said in unison.

Cruel laughter sounded from above followed by a little taunt.

"Com'ere bitches, I got sum'thin, ya want."

"Oh hell no, they are not taunting us. I am going out and beating that sorry son of a bitches ass." Josh yelled.

Cole hissed at Josh in anger.

"Away from the window, Josh." Cole demanded.

"Or what, they can't attack me."

"They have a g-" Cole was cut off the tell-tale crack, crack of a gun being fired. The first bullet had shattered the glass and had gone over Josh's head. The other bullet into his shoulder... And the axe being swung by an arm reached through the window and beheaded him. There was a momentarily pause, then the same arm reached in through the broken glass and dragged the behead body out, cutting Josh's body more.

Amanda screamed, watching the window in terror. Blood dripped from the window, and down the walls. Josh's head sat somewhere in that puddle of blood, but by that time I wasn't looking and was holding my stomach and leaning against the wall.

"I'm going to kill them!" Cole yelled.

"Cole!" I shouted in alarm, when he grabbed the discarded metal bat and went through the main room and out the door to face the enemy.

I stayed in place, frozen in terror, listening to the muffled voices, and the semi-clear one, until on phrase rang through.  
"Nighty-night!"

A sickening crack resounded and something or rather someone toppled off the camper. An outraged cry came from someone and soon the footsteps disappeared completely from off the top of the RV. There was the sound of footsteps, the door swinging open, then closed, and then Cole reappeared, the bloody body of Sam in his arms.

"What happened, and how'd you find Sam?"

"Those are really some cruel bitches, they were carting around her dead body to taunt us with, assumingly. I showed that one with the spike strip, Lizard, how I felt about his actions." Cole stated, grinning like a maniac.

Inside I was a little repulsed, he looked like the mutants covered blood and grinning.

"You hit him with the baseball bat."

Cole grinned, and set down the baseball bat.

"Damn right I did."

I couldn't bring myself to smile over this victory. Knowing their names for me, made them seem like people, and we just hit someone very hard over the head with a bat. That made me feel guilty, but one look at my sister's lifeless body, I gritted my teeth and gave Cole a small smile.

"Is Sam...dead?" I knew she was dead, but I had to ask.

"She's dead, Lydia, I'm sorry. I didn't leave their body for them to take, I wanted to give her a proper burial." Cole said, through clenched teeth.

Amanda had joined us, and stared at Sam's lifeless body.

"There was more than out there, wasn't there?" She asked.

"The same two as last time." Cole muttered, sighing.

Amanda closed her eyes and opened them, staring at the spot where, as I turned, I discovered that Josh's head still lay. I swallowed down vomit.

"They're killing us one by one, what are we going to do?"

Cole turned to stare where we were staring at, and shook his head.

"We're going to get the hell out of here, before they come back."

Amanda nodded.

"I'm going to go tell my dad what happened, I'm surprised that he didn't come in and check on us."

"Same here." I muttered.

"Where is he?" Cole asked.

"Out there, isn't he?" Amanda questioned.

Cole walked to the end of the bedroom area, and glanced out the doorway. He cursed and walked farther out into the main area. With small scruples about going out there, I paused, before walking into the main area, the first most bloodiest area of the RV. Amanda followed me, keeping safely behind.

"What's wrong Cole, there's nothing here?" I asked, not seeing anything that would alarm me.

"That's the point! There's nothing here, he's not here. The spare gun is gone, the kitchen knives are gone, his coat is gone. He took his coat and our weapons and left us for the dead!"

Surely that wasn't the truth, Amanda was his daughter, Josh was alive when he had came out here, why would he leave?

"Maybe he's just outside."

Cole swung the door open, and looked out, no one was there. No mutants, no Mr. Graham, nothing.

"He left us for the dead, he left us for the, dammit!" Cole broke off in a string of curses.

"Calm down, let's not lose our heads!"

The moment I said it, I realized that may have not been the best words to use. Amanda started crying, Cole just punched his fist against the wall of the RV, and I just watched the both of them fall apart.

We were falling apart, unwinding at the seams, becoming as confused and angered as the savages we faced.

…

* * *

**This is of significantly worse quality than my first chapter, but I may edit it later. I just skipped over some of what I planned on having in the story, rushed a death along, and am trying to get to the mutants. It's the plot bunnies fault, the one that resembles Lizard held me captive and psychologically tortured me until I stopped reading Repo fanfics and writing Beetlejuice fanfics. Then it made me come here and kill someone for him, because it's a sadistic little bunny. Next chapter's a treat, and if you hated this one, how would you like to watch Lizard kill someone in HIS point of view and where o where did Mr. Graham go? Lizard knows...**

** Is this story M now?**


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